Joko Widodo Wins Second Term

The General Election Commission (KPU) announced that President Joko Widodo will lead Indonesia from 2019 to 2024. It is a victory that most of the independent pre-election polls saw coming.

Gelora Bung Karno-on the last day of Presidential rally. Photo ANTARA

Jokowi Widodo, 57, a moderate technocrat with enthusiasm for infrastructure projects and a reputation for celebrating Indonesia’s religious and ethnic diversity captured 55.5 percent of the vote, well ahead of his opponent, Prabowo Subianto.

Widodo’s strongest showing came in areas of the country with large populations of religious minority groups, such as the tourist island of Bali, which is majority Hindu, and Papua, a province with a large population of Christians and Animists. In all, Mr. Joko won 21 of Indonesia’s 34 provinces.

Photo by Agus Suparto

A former furniture exporter, Jokowi is the first elected Indonesian president who is not from the country’s political or military elite. After serving as a city mayor, he became governor of Jakarta, the capital, and won plaudits for cutting through red tape in the country.